BLACKOUT PROTOCOL

Chapter 5

“Come out slowly, Ethan… unless you want to watch her die first.”

Director Crowe’s voice echoed through the burning tunnel with terrifying calm. Flames twisted along the collapsed passage while armed soldiers surrounded the only visible exit.

Ethan’s heartbeat slowed dangerously. Crowe wasn’t angry. That was the worst part. He looked prepared.

Like every second of chaos since Blackwater Bridge had unfolded exactly the way he wanted. Lena cursed quietly beside Ethan.

“We’re trapped.”

Crowe smiled through the smoke.

“You always were.”

The soldiers raised their rifles simultaneously. Laser sights covered Ethan’s chest. His head. His throat.

One wrong movement and he was dead.

“Step forward,” Crowe ordered.

Ethan stayed still. Heat from the fire burned against his skin while pieces of the tunnel concrete continued collapsing behind them. The tunnel was becoming a furnace.

“You destroyed the facility just to corner me?” Ethan asked coldly.

Crowe adjusted his black gloves calmly.

“That facility was compromised the second you survived.”

“So you murdered your own men.”

“They understood the risks.”

Lena’s expression darkened with disgust.

“You’re insane.”

Crowe finally looked at her. Something dangerous entered his eyes.

“You disappointed me most of all, Lena.”

She said nothing. Crowe stepped closer through the smoke.

“I trained you. Protected you. Turned you into something useful.”

“You turned children into weapons,” Lena snapped.

“And you were my greatest success.”

Ethan glanced sideways at her.

"Children?"

Crowe smiled faintly.

“She never told you, did she?”

Lena immediately raised her gun.

“Shut up.”

But Crowe continued walking slowly toward them.

“Blackout Protocol didn’t just recruit agents,” he said.

“We created them.”

Ethan frowned.

“What is he talking about?”

Lena’s silence answered first. Then Crowe finished it.

“She was raised inside the program from age seven.”

The words slammed into Ethan. Crowe sounded proud.

“She could dismantle a firearm by nine. Execute targets by thirteen. Interrogate adults before she could legally drive.”

Lena’s breathing turned uneven.

“Enough.”

“But tell him the impressive part,” Crowe continued mockingly.

“Tell him how many people you killed before turning twenty.”

Ethan slowly looked toward her. Lena avoided his eyes completely. Crowe laughed softly.

“Exactly.”

The tunnel trembled again. Flames spread higher behind Ethan and Lena while smoke thickened rapidly.

Time was running out. Crowe lifted his pistol casually.

“You’ve caused me unnecessary problems tonight, Ethan.”

“You framed me.”

“You became inconvenient.”

“And Senator Warwick?”

Crowe’s expression remained emotionless.

“He tried to expose things beyond his understanding.”

“So you killed him.”

“No,” Crowe corrected calmly.

“You did.”

Ethan clenched his fists violently.

“They’ll believe whatever story you give them.”

“Of course they will. I control the story.”

The confidence in his voice was horrifying. Not arrogance. Certainty.

Because powerful people would protect him. Ethan understood that now.

Governments. Agencies. Military networks. Blackout Protocol wasn’t hiding beneath the system. It was the system.

Crowe suddenly aimed his gun directly at Lena.

“But first,” he said quietly,

“I need to clean up my mistake.”

Ethan moved instantly.

He slammed into Lena just as Crowe fired.

The bullet ripped past them and exploded against the concrete wall.

Gunfire erupted everywhere. The tunnel descended into chaos.

Ethan grabbed a fallen metal pipe and smashed it into one soldier’s face before ripping away his rifle. Lena moved beside him with terrifying speed, driving a knife into another attacker’s throat.

Crowe stepped backward calmly while his men opened fire.

“Kill them both.”

Bullets shredded the tunnel walls.

Ethan fired back while dragging Lena toward a collapsed support beam for cover.

“We can’t stay here” he shouted.

“There’s another exit”

“Where?”

Lena pointed toward a narrow maintenance shaft partially hidden behind flames.

“Through there”

The shaft looked impossibly small. More bullets slammed into the concrete around them.

Crowe’s soldiers were closing in fast. Ethan fired twice more before sprinting with Lena toward the shaft.

A soldier grabbed Lena suddenly from behind. Ethan turned instantly. The man slammed Lena hard against the wall while reaching for his sidearm.

Without thinking, Ethan pulled the trigger. Blood exploded across the tunnel. The soldier collapsed. Dead.

Lena froze briefly. Not because of the body. Because Ethan had saved her. Their eyes locked for one dangerous second.

Then Crowe fired again. The bullet tore through Ethan’s shoulder. Pain exploded through his body.

He crashed against the tunnel wall with a strangled gasp.

“Ethan”

Lena caught him before he fell. Warm blood poured through his fingers instantly. Crowe approached slowly through the smoke.

“You should’ve stayed dead on that bridge.”

Ethan forced himself upright despite the agony ripping through his shoulder. Crowe looked almost disappointed.

“I really did believe you’d become my finest agent.”

“You made one mistake,” Ethan growled painfully.

Crowe tilted his head slightly.

“And what mistake was that?”

“You taught me how to survive.”

For the first time, Crowe’s smile disappeared. Ethan suddenly grabbed a loose grenade from the dead soldier’s vest.

Crowe’s eyes widened slightly. Then Ethan pulled the pin.

“RUN” Lena screamed.

Ethan threw the grenade directly into the advancing soldiers. The explosion tore through the tunnel violently. Fire swallowed the corridor.

Screaming men disappeared beneath collapsing pieces while the blast wave slammed Ethan and Lena backward into the maintenance shaft.

The tunnel ceiling began collapsing completely. Crowe vanished behind smoke and fire.

“Move” Lena shouted desperately.

Half dragging Ethan, she forced them deeper into the narrow shaft while destruction consumed the facility behind them.

Ethan’s vision blurred from blood loss. Everything hurt.

The shaft sloped upward sharply before finally opening into freezing night air.

Lena pulled Ethan out onto wet concrete behind an abandoned shipping yard near the harbor.

Rain poured heavily from the sky. Sirens echoed somewhere in the distance.

Ethan collapsed to one knee breathing hard while blood soaked through his shirt. Lena knelt beside him quickly.

“We need to stop the bleeding.”

Ethan grabbed her wrist weakly.

“Crowe…”

“He’s probably dead.”

But her voice lacked confidence. Ethan noticed immediately.

“You don’t believe that.”

Before Lena could answer, headlights suddenly illuminated the shipping yard. Both of them froze.

A black SUV rolled slowly through the rain toward them.

Its windows were completely tinted. No plates. No markings. The vehicle stopped ten feet away. Then the back door opened.

A young boy stepped out holding an umbrella. No older than twelve.

Ethan stared in confusion. The boy looked directly at him. Then spoke words that turned Ethan’s blood cold.

“My mother says if you want the truth about your father…”

The boy smiled slightly.

“…you have to come with us now.”